Arsenal will face Juventus in a friendly at Emirates Stadium on 17 December.
The match is the third to be confirmed for the World Cup break and will come hot on the heels of a training camp in Dubai that includes showdowns with Lyon and AC Milan.
Mikel Arteta will be hoping to have most of his players back from Qatar by the time the Old Lady visits London although it’s possible some could be involved in the third-place play-off and final which take place on the same weekend.
Arsenal return to Premier League action on 26 December so it’s possible an additional behind-closed-doors match could also be squeezed in.
The last time Arsenal and Juventus faced each other in a friendly was in the Emirates Cup in 2008. On that occasion, David Trezeguet sealed a 1-0 win for Claudio Ranieri’s side.
Not sure you can call a friendly, during a mid season interlull, with half the team missing a ‘showdown’
I’ll still watch it if it’s on somewhere.
Hopefully all our boys will be back by then. Been an enjoyable tournament so far with some nice shocks. When all the self entitlement from Europeans who subconsciously feel/believe they should be the only ones to host a word cup died down and the football began the world cup didn’t seem that bad
Lets just say that we Europeans prefer countries without “morality police” and the like….
Hello kettle hello pot! we could argue this till the cows come home
Bore off.
make me
We could because whenever someone expresses a genuine concern for human rights, rather than acknowledging it and discussing it some tosser will always say “but what about eighteen-O something or rather”” or “you’re virtue signalling “(which is a feeble blanket term trolls can use when we anyone is doing anything nice and is still better than being a cynic in my book).. There are no ends to the discussion you could have about the wrongs of many of the European colonial powers and their continuing failures. Discussion is happening openly every day in the press and in universities. But it’s… Read more »
I hear you on that. But you guys only choose when to look at and where to look at the said faults. Let’s not look at 1800 or 1679 AD. Do you think the way France is handling West Africa presently is any worse? They just hosted the Euros and nobody made any noise about it. The bombing down of Libya is just a decade old and now it’s a shell of a country and a haven for slavery, gross human rights abuse and who created that monster? All these immigrants drowning in the sea fleeing via Libya and the… Read more »
What holy card and whose bad record are you talking about? Macron or whoever the current PM is, condemning Qatar? Oh, right, they haven’t.
Football fans (not world leaders) are disgusted that the most important event in the sport is being used to normalise a regime (not a people, not a culture–a regime) that built its stadiums over the graves of several thousand migrant workers, whose policies concerning women and sexual orientation is a continuing violation of human rights.
Are there other regimes equally bad, or horrible in other ways? Yes. But they are not holding the World Cup.
The United States, with worse records than Qatar in terms of women and migrants rights are hosting the next world cup: Women can’t have abortions (they can in Qatar) Mexican migrants are treated as slaves with no paperwork or rights to healthcare (migrants have access to free healthcare in Qatar) They have waged illegal wars and invasions over the last 50 years resulting in the death of millions of people, they have bombed Iraq, Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Afghanistan in the last 10 years. Qatar has not bombed anyone. Journalists are imprisoned for expressing their opinions (Snowden, Assange etc). Qatar… Read more »
Yeah, like Sodomy laws and public flogging are ok….?
Women, made to walk ten paces behind the men, having their marriages ‘arranged’ for them and still having to seek permission from a male family elder as to when they can breathe, get a glass of water or take a dump? (sic)
Human trafficking as regular as the sun shining?
Give me the World Cup in the United States of America any day pal, rather than this current biblical dump we’re all being force fed.
if you want to be taken seriously regarding the history of my country when it comes to waging wars, we’ve been doing it for 250 years and not a paltry 50! also before you claim that qatar is innocent you might check and see where most of the air bases being used to bomb other countries are, because at least one major base which is being used to stage air raids into yemen is in doha. its the largest in the region. not a new take by any means, but perhaps nation states are a bad idea and we should… Read more »
Focus on the football mate. When you politicise football expect people standing up to you.
I did refer to ongoing evils. I am not denying them or rejecting criticism or invalidating them by saying “oh well you know, “Arabs” just subconsciously don’t like the West much, that’s why they criticise our governments, it has nothing to do with human rights abuses perpetrated by our states” which is essentially what you said about “Europeans” and Qatar. I would say some of the human rights abuses committed by UK are awful. If you brought them up I would acknowledge them and discuss them with you, join in the criticism, not enter into a game of human rights… Read more »
Says countries that made polygamy a crime but allows lgbt. Why is your love selective
largely because the outlawing of polygamy, at least in the united states, was something a certain religious sect with violent tendencies and an expansionist mindset were forced to accept at the barrel of a gun (the correct decision, imo) if they wanted to remain living in the utah territory in the 19th century. some couldn’t accept the decision and moved south to mexico.
morality police come in all shapes and sizes- in european countries they may not be as overt as we are seeing in qatar, but they exist on television, in government, and especially in business. your job will 100% dictate as much of your personal life as its allowed under law, and sometimes beyond.
the issue at hand here in qatar is not these morality police, but rather the tools of an oppressive right wing state designed to uphold the ruling class’ stranglehold on the larger populace.
To be honest, I’ve found the criticism over the top sometimes.
I understand criticizing the worker conditions and the restriction on the liberties of others, but the claim that Qatar shouldn’t be hosting because they politically engineered their way to winning the bid is just ludicrous.
Westerners have and will be doing the very same thing to get an edge whenever and wherever they can. The powers that be are just displeased they didn’t win this time, so, they direct their populations on these campaigns.
When it’s the west it’s called lobbying, the Arabs and third world? corruption. Also note that Any country politically parallel to the west is evil so no purpose debating Russia, China, Iran and North Korea hosting it. Remember they didn’t illegally invade Afghanistan, Murder Gaddafi and destroy Libya as a country and none of them was in the “coalition of the willing ” as Iraq was invaded, destroyed and “evil” Saddam murdered. Now ask yourself who’s selling all those weapons to the D R Congo for profit and looting their wealth? who’s destabilising West Africa and looting in broad daylight?… Read more »
The crusaders and their weapons of mass destruction accusations. Hahahah.
Are you trolling or for real? Please just read into the atrocities surrounding everything that’s gone into creating this world cup and tell me you still hold the same point of view. The lives lost by migrant workers… it’s the fucking 21st century and Qatar going on like they’re pharaohs building the pyramids of Giza.
Spot on. It is very clear this anti-Qatar world cup vibe is racism nothing else. Will these Europeans make the same objection to USA 2026? IS IT ACTUALLY SAFE to have a WC in a country with mass shootings every week? What about abortion rights? Can you say that you are Gay or Muslim in Texas without being shot? Why they didn’t object Russias gay ban in 2018? Talking about migranta right is another bs. UK is sending their migrants to Rwanda, imprisons child refugees and have the audacity to talk about migrant rights? Oh and I forgot that the… Read more »
Perhaps you genuinely don’t understand the distinction. I don’t oppose the Qatar World Cup because it undeservedly “rewards” the Qatar regime. I oppose it because it is an instrument of policy, an important instrument, of that regime. Many of us did whatever we could to try to stop the illegal, murderous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the legitimacy of the US or its allies did not depend on holding a successful sports event. No one said “the invasion of Iraq is good [or bad, for that matter] because the NBA is great to watch.” Yes, people around the world… Read more »
I see both sides. But let’s just fking enjoy the games.
What, you mean Sterling, Mount and Rice pretending to be world class midfielders? 😂
Are these the famed paid-for fans who are instructed to bombard social media with positive messaging about Qatar and whataboutery? Deary me.
These are arsenal fans with an opinion.
Yep. Even the old North Bank had it’s fair share of clueless idiots with nothing between their ears. Opinions 1st, Brains, 2nd…..🙄
You have been brainwashed by the biased British media. There are no paid fans. Do you believe the same media that told you Iraq has weapons of mass destructions? I am an Arsenal fan and I can call BS when I see it. It is time you lot from the UK AND WHEREABBOUTERY should come down from your high colonial horses and accept that your race is not superior. I have exposed the double standards when it comes to Qatar 2022 vs USA 2026. Stop watching the BBC and speak to real fans who are in Qatar or as a… Read more »
Mate, why do you support a British club when you clearly hate Great Britain so much……..?
This is a rhetorical question by the way. I already know the answer – it’s because Dubai is a shit hole.
What, all two of them? 😂
Listen mate, the only BS on this thread is your bitter problem with the West.
Funny how, when it comes to wars in the Middle East, it’s always the allied forces of NATO from the West that have to bail out the innocents. Do you have proof that there WEREN’T any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Do you fuck.
No doubt if Russia were to invade Qatar, you’ll be crying for our help.
Until then, feel free to keep supporting a ‘colonial’ country based football club – you utter hypocrite.
My thoughts exactly. Well said.
And there we have it!
The racist card!
Bore off, mate.
It’s like playing troll bingo.
Ain’t that the truth! 👍😂
Utter Crap.
I’m still laughing about this comment from yesterday!!!
“but the Saudis defended like Newcastle fans if anyone said anything critical of their new owners on Twitter”
God, I’m soooooo bored.
Bored with the WC in Qatar debate, bored without watching lovable Arsenal and bored watching Ronnie and his antics….. so boring.
Off topic, but let’s all have a hearty laugh at Robbie Savage. 😂
And John Terry’s a c*nt.
Just watching the telly. Nice to see England ensuring that Matt Turner is well rested for the Juventus game.
3rd place playoff fixtures should be decided by coin toss
Could be quite competitive. There’s no shortage of professional tossers in FIFA.